Tufted brush construction



July 29, 1958 J. B. BENYAK 2,844,835

I TUFTED BRUSH CONSTRUCTION Filed May 23, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 \WAIJ WINVENTOR. JOHN 8.315! YA K 06% VQLMOA A TTORA/EYS.

' July 29,1958

INV JOHN B. BE/VYA f BY MY United States Patent TUFTEl) BRUSHCONSTRUCTION John B. Benyak, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to The OsbornManufacturing Company, Cleveland, Ohio, at corporation of OhioApplication May 23, 1955, Serial No. 510,283

8 Claims. (Cl. -179) This invention relates as indicated to tufted brushconstruction, and more particularly .to power driven rotary brushes ofvarious types in which individual tufts of brush bristle material aresecured in a manner which not only ensures longer brush lifeand bristleaction but also permits the tufts to be formed in desired shapes toachieve selected types of brush faces.

-For many types of brushing operations, the twisted tuftform of brushhas been found most suitable, particularly satisfactory forms beingshown and described in Peterson Patent 2,480,877. In twisted tuftbrushes, however, only the portions of the bristles extending beyond thelast twist in a tuft are free to flex upon engagement with the work, andit is necessary that the bristle material be relatively tough to avoidpremature breakage. It is accordingly an object of the present inventionto provide a tufted rotary brush having many of the advantages oftwisted tuft rotary brushes known in the art, but utilizing straightbristle material which may be of greatly increased hardness, suchbristle material being so mounted and secured as to minimize breakageand shedding of the bristles.

It is also often desired to produce brush strip incontinuous lengths astaught in Peterson Patent 2,303,386, for example, but with the bristlesextending in individual tufts therefrom. The provision of such novelbrush strip is another object of this invention.

There is an increasing demand for power driven rotary brushes havingvery open brush facessuitable for cleaning the interiors of tubes andother cylindrical openings, brushes of this general class being known asduster brushes in the art, and it is a further object of my invention toprovide novel brushes of this type wherein the individual tufts may bewidely spaced circumferentially of the brush and the bristles of theindividual tufts may be arranged in the most effective manner for thepurpose intended.

Still another object is to provide power driven rotary brushes havingwide, thin, generally fan shaped tufts of bristles.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said inventionthen comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularlypointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexeddrawing setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of theinvention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the variousways in which the principle of the invention may be employed.

In said annexed drawings:

Fig. 1 is an axial view of a rotary brush showing a large number ofindividual tufts secured to a central disc-like hub in accordance withmy invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 2-2 on Fig. 1;

ice

Fig. 3 is a side view of a short length of brush strip generally similarto that disclosed in the aforesaid Peterson Patent 2,303,386 bututilizing my new tufted brush material;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken on the line 4-4 on Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an axial or end view of a rotary duster brush of novelconstruction in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 6 is a side view of the brush ofFig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary view of a rotary brush of a constructiongenerally similar to that of Fig. 1 but with the tufts of brush bristlematerial arranged in a different manner; and

Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken on the line 8--8 on Fig. 7. I

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, theembodiment of my invention there i1- lustrated may comprise a centralsteel disc 1 adapted to serve as a hub and having a central aperture 2which may be mounted on a brush arbor or mandrel. A number of smallapertures Sare circumferentially disposed closely within the outerperiphery of disc 1, their edges being beveled or rounded. Through eachof such apertures is inserted a tubular sleeve 4 having brush bristlematerial 5 extending therethrough and protruding therefrom in the formof individual tufts. Such bundles of bristles substantially fill thetubes 4 which are rebent after insertion through apertures 3 so that thetwo tufts protruding from each tube extend generally radially out wardlyfrom the disc-shaped. hub 1. The outer ends of the tubes may be crimpedor compressed together as at 6 both to assist in securing the bristlematerial therewithin and also to form the tufts into relatively thin,flat, fan-shaped form, as best shown in Fig. 1. When arranged asillustrated, such tufts obviously afford a relatively dense but verynarrow brush' face in substantially the same plane as that of disc 1.Brushes of this sort are very useful when it is desired to enter narrowslits and the like. It will be appreciated that the individual bristlesare relatively straight in contrast 'to the usual twisted tuft brush(although they may be slightly crimped on occasion, if desired) and willordinarily be fairly long in their extent from the ends of tube 4 to theouter working face of the brush. This means that such bristles areenabled to bend in an arcuate fashion over substantially their entirelength when engaging the work and are very much less likely to bebroken. The bristles are, moreover, protected where they pass throughthe disc,'being in effect enclosed within a hinge member guarding themagainst all wear and abrasion at this point. For the two reasons aboveindicated, it is feasible to employ rela tively hard brush bristlematerial, even including steel wirehaving a Knoop hardness of 600 ormore without danger of an excessive amount of long fracture in use. Suchbrushes naturally have a much enhanced cutting action.

As shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the tube end portions may be crixnped orcompressed as at 7 transversely of disc 1 so that the tufts 8 of brushbristle material lie in planes generally normal to the axis of the disc.When a brush of this latter type is rotated at high speed, centrifugalforce of course operates to hold the bristle tufts extending radiallyalthough they may be momentarily deflected when engaging the work. Whenthus engaging the work, the bristles are not only free to bend over thelarger portion of the length, but also their tubular supports 4 willswivel somewhat in apertures 3. It will, of course, be obvious that theends of tubes 4 may be compressed to any desired angle to the plane ofdisc 1 intermediate the forms shown in Figs. 1 and 7.

While various types of brush strip construction are well known in theart and may be utilized in accordance with my invention, I prefer thatdisclosed in Peterson Patent 2,303,386 and illustrated in modified formin Figs. 3 and 4 herein. Teeth 9 are punched in from the respectivesides of a sheet metal channelform back 10 for the purpose of securingan elongated retaining element such as wire 11 therebeneath. As bestshown in Fig. 4, the bundles of brush material are inserted withintubular member 12 and protrude from both ends of the latter to formindividual tufts 13 which may be of generally circular cross-section.Tubular members 12 are bent to general U-shape about retaining wire 11which serves to secure such members within the channel brush back. Suchtubular members may be slightly crimped as at 14 to assist in preventingshifting of the bristles therewithin although the bending of such memberand the enclosed bristle bundle about retaining element 11 willordinarily sufiice for this purpose. The teeth 9 will, of course,protrude inwardly over wire 11 intermediate the tufts, such teethpreferably being arranged in substantially opposed, slightly overlappingpairs as taught in such Peterson Patent 2,303,386. Brush strip producedin the manner described herein may thus comprise a long series of denseindividual bristle tufts and obviously when such brush strip iscircularized, such tufts may extend generally radially outwardly withthe outer ends of the tufts being consequently somewhat spaced apart. Asin the case of the Fig. 1 and Fig. 7 embodiments of the invention, thetubular socket members may be shaped to provide any desired form ofbristle tuft.

Referring now to Figs. and 6 of the drawing, the embodiment thereillustrated is particularly suitable for use as a duster brush forcleaning the interiors of cylinders and the like. It comprises a metalrod 15 having having a reduced stem portion 16 adapted to be secured inan appropriate power tool with two short lengths of metal tubing 17 and18 inserted through diametric apertures in rod 15 arranged at rightangles to each other and spaced axially of such rod. Bundles of brushbristle material are inserted in each tube and protrude from therespective ends thereof to form the tufts 19 and 20. By compressing theslightly protruding end portions of the two tubes as best shown in Fig.6, these are caused to flare to secure the same in place in rod 15 andalso to form the tufts to fan shape as illustrated.

It will be noted that in most of the embodiments of my inventionillustrated and described above, the double bristle tufts are secured tothe brush back or equivalent support by what amounts to a bearingpermitting a degree of oscillating or swiveling action, ordinarily inbut a single plane.

Brushes of the type shown in Fig. 1 have many special uses such as theremoval of electrical insulation from copper wires secured in slots inthe rotors of small electric motors. Obviously, as previously explained,I am enabled to adjust the width of the brush face provided by suitablyselecting the angles at which the ends of the tubular members arecrimped or compressed, all Without affecting the bearing action of suchmembers where secured in their support. Because my new brushconstruction enables the employment of straight brush bristle materialinstead of twisted tufts, for example, it is possible to maintain aprecise brush diameter, this sometimes being of importance in highprecision brushing operations. Moreover, in the past such twisted tuftshave naturally been made of wire, but the individual tufts of my newbrushes, while likewise frequently of wire, may also be of animal,vegetable or synthetic fibers such as horsehair, Tampico fiber andnylon. While steel wire is undoubtedly the most common form of metalwire employed, there are occasions when copper wire, stainless steel oraluminum, for example, may be preferred. The tubular members in whichthe bundles of bristles are inserted will ordinarily be of metal such assteel, brass,

copper or aluminum. While the discs in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 8 embodimentswill ordinarily be fiat as shown, t... may also be cupped in the generalmanner shown and described in Peterson Patent 2,480,877, it beingappreciated that the U-shaped tubular members carrying the tufts ofbrush material will still be mounted for swivelling about axestransversely of the direction of brush face movement. Crimped wire orplastic coated wire, for example, may be utilized as the brush bristlematerial and the prior insertion of bundles of such material in theshort tubular elements greatly facilitates the handling of such bundlesthereafter. It has been common practice in the past to assemble bundlesof brush bristle material and then temporarily to bind such bundlestogether with rubber bands and the like to permit convenient handlingduring the subsequent assembly operation. Double tuft units such asshown in Figs. 2 and 8 may be embedded in a plastic base if desired. Itwill also be appreciated that tufts of the type shown and describedherein may be secured in strip having notches or holes therein asdisclosed in Nelson et a1. application Serial No. 134,904, filedDecember 24, 1949, for Brush and Method of Making Same.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details'described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. A rotary brush comprising a metal disc having a central opening formounting on a mandrel or the like and a large number of small circularapertures uniformly circumferentially located adjacent the outerperiphery of said disc, the edges of such apertures being beveled, aU-shaped metal tubular member of circular cross-section pivotallymounted in each such aperture with the respective ends thereof extendinggenerally radially outwardly of said disc on each side thereof, and abundle of wire brush bristle material inserted through each said tubularmember with the respective ends of said bundles extending generallyradially outwardly to form a circular brush face, the end portions ofsaid tubular members being compressed to spread the emergent bristlematerial into generally flat fan-shaped layers lying substantially inthe plane of said disc.

2. A rotary brush comprising a metal disc having a central opening formounting on a mandrel or the like and a large number of small circularapertures uniformly circumferentially located adjacent the outerperiphery of said disc, the edges of such apertures being beveled, aU-shaped metal tubular member inserted in each such aperture with therespective ends thereof extending generally radially outwardly of saiddisc on each side thereof, and a bundle of wire brush bristle materialinserted through each said tubular member with the respective ends ofsaid bundles extending generally radially outwardly to form a circularbrush face, the end portions of said tubular members being compressed tospread the emergent bristle material into generally flat fan-shapedlayers lying substantially normal to the plane of said disc.

3. A rotary brush comprising a disc-shaped hub memher having a largenumber of circular apertures uniformly circumferentially locatedadjacent the outer periphery of said disc, a U-shaped tubular member ofcircular crosssection inserted in each such aperture with the respectiveends thereof extending generally radially outwardly of said disc on eachside thereof, and a bundle of brush bristle material inserted througheach said tubular member with the respective ends of said bundlesproviding pairs of tufts extending generally radially outwardly to forma circular brush face.

4. The brush of claim 3, wherein said tubular members are adapted toswivel in such apertures about axes normal to the plane of said disconly.

5. The brush of claim 3, wherein said tubular members are locallycompressed in their respective end portions more firmly to grip andsecure said respective bundles of brush bristle material therein.

6. The brush of claim 3, wherein said tubular members are locallycompressed in their respective end portions more firmly to grip andsecure said respective bundles of brush bristle material therein and tospread the emergent bristle material into generally flat fanshapedlayers lying substantially in the plane of said disc.

7. The brush of claim 3, wherein said tubular members are locallycompressed more firmly to grip and secure said respective bundles ofbrush bristle material therein and to spread the emergent bristlematerial into generally flat fan-shaped layers lying in planestransversely of said disc.

8. A rotary brush having a rotatable support, tubular socket membersprojecting radially therefrom, and brush References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 558,855 Stauder Apr. 21, 1896 999,820Martin Aug. 8, 1911 1,633,274 Rasmesen June 21, 1927 1,970,302 GerhardtAug. 14, 1934 2,251,626 Hertzberg Aug. 5, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,261Switzerland July 6, 1893 459,285 Great Britain Jan. 5, 1937

